Covering most of East Leeds

Choices

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When you go shopping the one thing you always have is lots of choice, with a vast array of goods and prices for you to select, but you don’t often hear words of wisdom. Some time ago I was shopping in Sainsbury’s when two young men approached, who I took to be students, and whilst selecting their items, continued a conversation they were obviously having earlier. One of them said something to the other which I couldn’t hear, but the other replied, “Yes, life is something that happens while you’re waiting,” then they both walked away and I was left thinking how true this statement was. When I got to the checkout and saw the queue of trolleys in front of me, I had a quiet moan to myself but it gave me some time to reflect again, on how true their words seemed to be. Many of us are quite content to spend our days marking time and waiting for something to happen to change us or the world in which we live. But by the time we’ve decided which direction our lives should take, sometimes, sadly it’s too late.

From early childhood we have all been given pieces of advice on how to behave and what to do. These range from taking your dirty shoes off as soon as you enter the house, to giving up your seat on the bus to an adult – a practice that modern children totally ignore. So many pieces of advice, that over the years many have been lost in the hurly burly of modern life, but I do remember one such piece of advice that I have always tried to follow... “It is better to make a decision and be wrong, that not make a
decision at all”.

So next time we are tempted to put off making decisions and simply wait for events to overtake us, remember these words and those of that anonymous young man, “Life is something that happens while you’re waiting".

“The lost leaves measure our years and they are gone as the days are gone and the bare branches silently speak new life”.